


Navidad Talks

by ograndebatata



Category: Elena of Avalor (Cartoon)
Genre: A Christmas fic of sorts, F/M, Fluff, Talking About the Past, hints of romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28330449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ograndebatata/pseuds/ograndebatata
Summary: As time keeps passing by after she is let out of a prison for the second time, Chatana receives an unexpected invitation. At first, she doesn't know what to think, but she's willing to learn and think on the matter. And that's all that Esteban feels he can ask for.
Relationships: Esteban/Chatana
Kudos: 2





	Navidad Talks

**Author's Note:**

> I do not Elena of Avalor or any of its characters. They belong to Disney.
> 
> This fic was written as part of the EoA Secret Santa 2020 on the EoA Discord server, for cc. Merry Christmas to you! :) I hope this goes as close to your tastes as possible.

**Navidad Talks**

_It was a holiday that was celebrated in many different forms throughout the EverRealm, and was given many different names depending on the location._

_But whatever the location and the name given to the day, the spirit of it ideally would remain the same, regardless of the way it was celebrated._

_It was with that spirit in mind that, in the kingdom of Avalor, a man who had once enabled the land to be taken over and later almost helped to destroy it approached someone he cared about, offering her an invitation that he hoped she would take._

_And it was with hope in his heart that he later went to meet her with something he promised was meant to be a sign that she would be welcome, should she agree to go._

“So…” Chatana dragged out, sitting cross-legged on the floor of her bedroom as she eyed the strange food item that rested on the plate in her lap. “... how exactly does one eat these things?”

Also sitting cross-legged on the floor, on the other side of a tray with more of those strange corn husks tied over some kind of filling that rested between, the former Chancellor Esteban used his fork to lift one into the plate that rested on his own lap.

“They’re called _tamales_ ,” he explained as he untied the string that held the corn husk together. “As for how you eat them…” he paused for some reason, perhaps to try and think of an explanation that sounded prim and proper enough “... you just pull the tie loose, pick up your fork, and help yourself.”

As if to add a visual demonstration, he raised his own fork and scooped up a bit of his own _tamal_ , slowly chewing on it. For a few moments, he seemed about to frown in confusion, as if the taste was unusual to him too - perhaps because of the specific recipe - but then she saw the satisfaction seeping from his gaze as he decided that, even if the taste was foreign, it was good.

“I see…” Chatana at least mumbled, still looking at her own tamal with a raised eyebrow and a scrunched up nose.

It smelled wonderful for sure, but the idea of eating it seemed as odd as that of her wings leaving her body and taking off for themselves.

Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but all the same, the truth was that even now, almost five months after she was let out of the balagro, cooked food was still a bit weird for her. Easier on the stomach, maybe (at least if the handful of times she had eaten cooked food was anything to go by) but hard to get used to after spending her whole life eating things raw. So much so that most of the time she still flew into the jungle to eat when she was hungry and came back once she finished her meal, trying to ignore the nervous looks she was given to the best of her ability. 

Seemingly sensing her unease, Esteban smiled at her, already having swallowed his portion of the tamal.

“Don’t worry. Like I promised, I made sure to ask Abuela to make vegetarian ones for you.”

Despite herself, Chatana returned the smile. Even if cooked food was foreign to her, it was nice that he had remembered she didn’t eat meat, not to mention that his grandmother had acquiesced to his request and made a vegetarian version of this food, different from those that had been eaten by the Maruvians, or that most people in Avalor ate today. 

Still, it didn’t completely eliminate the inherent weirdness attached to the course, nor her lack of habit to food that wasn’t raw.

Again as if he was reading her mind, Esteban kept directing her the same smile.

“If you feel too uncomfortable eating them after all, it’s alright. We can just leave them someplace for Flo or Pili to find and have their fill. I’m sure they’ll be happy to dispose of them, and I’d say no one will know any better.”

Laughter bubbled up Chatana’s throat at the suggestion, her pursed lips holding back the bulk of it, but not being quick enough to stop a few stray giggles from flying out. She could certainly imagine either of those two devouring anything remotely edible-looking they came across. And in Flo’s case, she had actual evidence that the animated alpacamundi would enjoy blatantly inedible things.

“We’d have to remove the twine first,” Chatana pointed out. “Flo might be able to digest anything, but Pili isn’t so lucky.”

Esteban nodded, his moustache drooping almost imperceptibly as he frowned the tiniest bit. If she knew him, he was either somber at the realization about Pili and twine or sad at the fact she wouldn’t be trying the tamales after all. 

“But there’s no need to do that,” she went on. “At least not yet. I’ll try them.”

Esteban instantly sat up straighter at those words, happiness bursting from his eyes at the thought. It was so sudden that for a moment Chatana thought his hair would also be sticking upwards, like it had in the days before the Royal Master Wizard had managed to provide a workaround around that particular issue. It didn’t, though, and his stance lasted only for a moment before he carefully restrained it, a more subdued expression taking over.

“Are you sure?” he whispered.

Chatana nodded. 

“I figure it’s the least I can do.”

She knew it had the potential to sound like one of those pleasantries that people so often exchanged without actually meaning them, but she did feel that trying these tamales was the least she could do, after what Esteban had done for her. If he hadn’t thought of her after the final battle, odds were she and Pili would still be trapped, rather than being released and given a chance to settle into the modern world, as long as they promised not to continue their evil ways. 

True, some of it was also due to luck, as it had turned out the Shades of Awesome had destroyed her diadem before they were defeated, and with Chatana being unable to repair it, everyone figured she would be much less of a threat, as her crown had been what enabled her to conjure her creatures. Still, she recognized the Queen wasn’t obligated to give her a chance, and that Esteban had taken a tremendous risk when he had asked his cousin to give it. 

And what was more, now he had actually invited her to be part of the upcoming holiday the whole kingdom would be celebrating (Navidad, they called it) which even she recognized was a sign that he valued her. And in addition to that, he had made sure to remember her food needs for it, and to preemptively bring it over for her to try so there was still time to fix things before the actual dinner. The least she could do was actually try it.

Though if she didn’t like it, she would have to be honest about it. Lying and playing along were things of bygone days.

 _Hopefully I’ll just be able to honestly say I like the food._ She thought. 

A trickle of nervousness squirming in her chest, Chatana raised her hand and channelled some magic into the twine, loosening the piece of string and unfolding the corn husk. Then, picking up her fork, she stabbed the filling and scooped up a bit the size of her thumbnail into her mouth, carefully running it along her tongue and cheeks as she let the flavor spread across her taste buds. 

A confused hum vibrated in her throat, the taste of the cooked food still odd in her mouth. She could recognize corn, tomatoes and chili pepper, but the other flavors were impossible to determine, far too subdued, mixed in with stronger spices, or simply things she had never eaten at all. 

But none of it made her stomach or taste buds protest. 

Satisfied with that, Chatana swallowed the first forkful and scooped up a bigger one, slowly chewing the piece as she again spread the tamal’s taste through her mouth as thoroughly as possible. 

Ahead of her, Esteban scooped another forkful of his own tamal into his mouth, the gesture as measured as those she had seen from him on the few times she’d had dinner with him and his family, but his eyes constantly darting to and fro in regards to her, as if he was both trying to see and not see her face when she cast judgement upon the food.

Pretending she hadn’t seen, Chatana swallowed the second mouthful and scooped up the third bit.

And then, as if the full breath of the food’s taste had been waiting before manifesting itself, an explosion of the various flavors that somehow seemed both associated with the ingredients and yet fundamentally different from them spread across her mouth, causing a strange warmth to bloom in her stomach. She couldn’t quite explain how, or why, but somehow, this particular combination of food items and their preparation added up to an absolutely wonderful final result, which sent an unfamiliar, but pleasant kind of joy fluttering through her being, as if warm feathers were caressing her soul.

“Well?”

Chatana started as she heard Esteban’s question, so much so that the plate shook in her hand violently enough for the unwrapped tamal to almost jump out of it. Blinking violently to bring herself back to reality, she saw Esteban looking at her, as prim and proper as one could look while sitting cross-legged, and yet betraying how curious he was about her opinion through the eager glint in his eyes, the subtle way he leaned forward.

Putting on her best indifferent air, Chatana tapped her chin as she pretended to think about his question, turning her eyes at the ceiling as she tried not to sneak looks at Esteban’s face. 

“They’re good,” she settled on with a shrug, her wings flapping slightly with the movement and causing a faint rush of air to flow over Esteban’s face and hair.

The former chancellor could only blink slowly, straightening himself with all the speed of a turtle poking its head out of its shell. He gave her a strangely intense yet empty look, as if he was trying to figure out whether she was being serious or just teasing him. 

“Only good?” he eventually asked, his voice carefully neutral.

Muffling a burst of chuckles, Chatana tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with her free hand conceded, “Alright, they’re better than good.” 

Despite his best efforts, the relief that washed over Esteban’s features was so palpable that she had to hold back another burst of amused chuckles. Yes, maybe this shouldn’t sound so funny, but something about the way he expressed his emotions, whether he was trying to keep a straight face or wearing his heart on his sleeve, couldn’t help but be kind of funny.

 _Don’t be like that._ She told herself. _Remember he’s doing this because he truly wants you to be a part of this ‘Navidad’ thing._

Paraphrasing Esteban’s own catchphrase, that was true. She wasn’t entirely sure why he was doing it, but it was true.

Well, not exactly. She knew why he was doing it. And if she was honest with herself, she didn’t mind, even if she wasn’t ready to move quite as fast as he did just yet. All the same, it was better to be able to openly be friendly to him than to display the front of cold civility she had adopted with everyone but Pili, back in the days Ash had been stringing them along. 

Still, she couldn’t help but add, “At least this version of them is better than good. I can’t speak for the ordinary recipe.”

This time, Esteban only smiled.

“It’s alright. You won’t have to.” 

Saying so, he scooped up another forkful of his _tamal_ , as Chatana did the same thing with hers, this time chewing it more quickly, but still slowly enough to feel she was savouring it before swallowing it. 

“Your grandmother is still a wonderful cook,” she added after she swallowed. “If I grow fonder of cooked food and learn how to cook, I’ll have to ask for this recipe.”

Shifting slightly in his spot, Esteban swallowed his own mouthful of _tamal_.

“I’m sure she’ll be happy to share it.” 

That much, Chatana didn’t doubt. Despite her asocial nature and the way she kept her distance from pretty much everyone, one thing even she knew - largely thanks to Pili’s forays into the kitchen - was that Señora Flores not only loved how to cook, but also loved to teach how to cook. And while Chatana didn’t think she was likely to want to learn much on the subject, at least she knew she’d have a good teacher should she ever choose to.

Eating one more forkful of her _tamal_ , Chatana chewed on it as she tried to think of where to take the conversation next. Then, upon swallowing it, she asked the first thing that came to her mind.

“Why exactly do you eat these _tamales_ in this particular season? From what I remember of the Maruvians, they ate them at pretty much every time of the year.”

It might be a bit of a weird thing to ask, but it seemed better than just sitting in silence. Besides, she was curious about what this ‘Navidad’ holiday entailed, having never celebrated it before, and asking about the possible connection between it and this course seemed as good as anything else. If the connection existed in the first place, given how, as she had told Esteban, the Maruvians had eaten _tamales_ at every time of the year, as far as she remembered. Granted, that had been centuries ago, and perhaps her memory was starting to play tricks on her after all her time in that magical chamber, but she didn’t think so. 

“We also eat them at other times of the year,” Esteban explained. “But they are indeed a popular food item on Navidad.”

“Why?” Chatana insisted, her eyes narrowing slightly. She didn’t need him to tell her things she already knew, she wanted to know new ones.

Swallowing another mouthful of his own _tamal_ , Esteban’s frow furrowed pensively while he chewed, the movements of his jaw slow and deliberate, as if doing so was somehow needed to help him figure out the answer to her question. Though the feathers in her wings bristled slightly, Chatana pursed her lips shut and waited.

“No one knows, actually,” he at last replied as he set down his fork. “By the time people in Avalor were eating _tamales_ in Navidad as a tradition, it had already caught on to the point it was hard to say where it had started.” His eyes briefly misted over, a bittersweet smile on his lips. “My uncle and my aunt used to joke that in our family, we ate them because it was a way to have even more gifts.” Upon seeing Chatana’s quizzical tilt of her head coupled with the way she curled her eyebrow, he explained, “Because you need to unwrap both gifts and _tamales_ , and Abuela’s recipe is so good, it’s like having another gift.”

Narrowing her eyes again, Chatana slowly nodded. Her question hadn’t exactly been answered, but if he didn’t know, he didn’t know. At least he had been honest about it. And, she had to admit, there was something endearing to that analogy between _tamales_ and gifts. But it did pose more questions. 

“Why do you wrap gifts?” she asked. “Why do you even give gifts at Navidad? What is their purpose?”

Just from Esteban’s expression, she knew her question must have seemed very weird. His eyes opened so much they seemed about to shoot out of their sockets, his jaw dropping so much Chatana briefly worried he’d sprain it. His jaw shook as if he was trying to make words, but only a few isolated sounds left his mouth. 

Again, Chatana’s eyebrow moved up her forehead. Esteban might not have seemed outright offended, but he certainly seemed confused, as if she suddenly had trees sprouting from her back rather than wings. Mustering all the control she could, she kept silent and waited for Esteban to do something other than staring at her in that way, even as she felt the feathers in her wings starting to bristle again.

“Are you not familiar with the concept of giving gifts?” he at last whispered.

Despite the baffled tone in his voice, Chatana relaxed. He sounded taken aback, confused, but not disrespectful. That by itself was a relief.

Though now it posed the dilemma of having to dwell into her past, which was not exactly a pleasant topic to discuss, especially in Navidad, a season that apparently was meant for their hearts to be full of cheer, something her life hadn’t had a lot of since she was a teenager. 

Still, she supposed she could tell him something. Enough to hopefully answer his main questions without going into all the sordid details. 

“We didn’t really have that habit among my people,” she explained as she set down her own fork. “And the jaquins weren’t very interested in giving me gifts after I dropped into Vallestrella, nor were the Maruvians after the jaquins kicked me out of their world.”

 _Quite literally._ She added in her mind. Sometimes she swore she could still feel the kick that the leader of the Royal Guard at the time had landed on her cheek all those centuries ago before she went flying through the open portal, with Pili clinging to her robe as they were cast into a strange new world, for the second time in her case. 

“Dropped into Vallestrella?” Esteban asked. “You mean… you weren’t from there? But Ash seemed to think you were from there!” 

Chatana gritted her teeth upon hearing the name. Even months after she had last seen her, even after knowing she had gone to the Spirit World for all eternity, hearing that woman’s name still brought too many unpleasant memories.

“Who told you that Ash knew everything?” she hissed.

Her wings flapped as if to punctuate the question, hard enough that Esteban actually raised his arm to shield his eyes. For a moment, he seemed about to say something in response to that question, but asked instead, “How did you end up there?” 

Chatana clenched her teeth once more, this time pulling her lips back in a fierce snarl, the same squawky growl she always made when she was angry rumbling in the back of her throat.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” she replied with blazing eyes, her wings bent into an arrow shape like an eagle about to dive onto a monkey to snatch it from a branch.

“Alright, alright,” Esteban replied, his hands raised in appeasement. “If you don’t want to talk about it right now, you don’t want to talk about it right now.”

Chatana held her glare, her wings still spread, their feathers standing on end. But slowly, as she met Esteban’s eyes, and saw nothing but appeasement in them, the anger simmering within her faded, her wings dropping once more, their feathers low again.

His moustache shaking as if he had failed to completely hold back a relieved sigh, Esteban explained, “So… on your question about gifts… the reasons people give them kind of depend on the individual person’s interpretation. Some give them because it’s tradition, so to speak. Others give them as a way of showing off how much money they have. Among my family - and most others, I’d like to think - we give them as a way of showing appreciation. We try to get those we care about things that we know they will like, so that that person gets to enjoy them.”

Chatana blinked, a mix between realization and doubt rearing up in her mind. She had understood his explanation - it sounded a bit like a reverse version of what her people did, in a sense - but if giving gifts was the way people showed they cared about one another on Navidad, she now had a different problem.

Her realization must have been visible, because a concerned look came onto Esteban’s face. 

“Is something the matter?”

Her heart leaping, Chatana shook her head. 

“No, not at all,” she replied, her voice sounding fake even to her own ears. “And that…” she briefly trained off, rummaging her mind for the right words. “... that sounds like a very nice thing to do.”

Esteban’s expression only grew more intensely concerned.

“Chatana?”

She tried her best to stay calm under his probing gaze, even as her eyes itched to look everywhere but at him, her heart leaping time and again in her chest, her wings itching to flap and get her away from here. A not-small part of her very much wanted to do that, to just fly away somewhere deep into the jungle and stay there until she figured out some solution to her dilemma, or until this whole Navidad celebration had ended and her issue stopped being an issue until next year. 

But that wasn’t an option. She couldn’t fly away and leave Pili here in the palace, and if she didn’t deal with this now, she’d be forced to deal with it when she came back. She might be able to fly her way around that by taking Pili and permanently leaving, but if she did so, she would lose any chance she had at eventually freeing her other creations. The Queen had told her they could only be released once they found a way to keep them from causing any harm while Chatana tried to educate them, and if she ran away, odds were she would lose that chance, maybe even be seen as an enemy of the crown again. And without her crown and a wizard to cast cloaking spells, she wouldn’t last three days before being caught and potentially have several privileges revoked. 

_To put it mildly._

Remembering that Esteban was still looking at her, Chatana took the most subtle deep breath she could, trying to muster the will required to ask her question, hoping the answer would be the one she wanted.

“Is giving gifts truly the way to show people you care about them among your people?”

Esteban’s eyes narrowed again, but the way they seemed to stare into emptiness told her it wasn’t out of anger, but thoughtfulness. It was as if he understood how serious the question was and wanted to make sure he gave a good answer. 

Her wings itching to flap in her nervousness, Chatana reached up and curled a strand of her hair around her finger, trying to distract herself with the gesture while she waited for Esteban to answer. As if trying to mirror her, he reached up and stroked his moustache, his eyes ever narrowed as he kept pondering the issue. Chatana’s feathers started to stand on her. 

“Ultimately, no,” Esteban ended up replying. “Gifts are nice, but they’re not what matters the most.”

“Well that’s a relief,” Chatana got out before she could help herself.

The next instant, she took her hand to her mouth, a gasp slipping out as her eyes widened, like she had uttered a swear word. 

“I’m sorry,” she explained. “It’s just… I don’t have any gift for you.”

She tensed up as she said those words, wondering if some sort of negative emotion would creep into Esteban’s face. But he only nodded, nothing but acceptance in his expression as he let go of his moustache. 

“That’s alright,” he said. 

Again, Chatana blinked slowly, feeling like her eyes had been hit by some sort of growth potion. 

“I could have mustered up the nerve to invite you earlier. And told you more about Navidad, so you’d know what to expect. If I had the nerve to be upset about no gifts after this, I’d be the worst hypocrite ever, not to mention someone who doesn’t take responsibility for his actions at all.” Flinching as if he had been struck, Esteban added, “I may have been like that some time ago, but I’m trying to improve on that front.

“I wasn’t going to say anything,” Chatana replied, her voice as calm as she could make it.

Sighing in relief, Esteban went on, “Point is, as I just said, gifts are not the most important thing about Navidad. Navidad, above all, is about spending time with friends and family, enjoying their company, talking about the good times, being there for them if they need you… things like that. Giving gifts that you feel people will like is indeed a way to show them you like them, but it’s not the main way.” 

Chatana frowned at his words, pulling her finger loose from the strand of hair curled around it.

“But… shouldn’t those things be done everyday rather than just on Navidad?”

A pained sigh forced its way out of Esteban’s lips. 

“Yes. They should. But I guess most people get so busy with their lives that they forget to do it most of the year. In a sense, I guess that at least on Navidad we put some time aside to just be with the people we like, without anything else getting in the way.” After a pause, he added, “Ideally, Navidad is also meant to be a moment of peace and love among everyone, but for better or for worse, far too many stick to their closer circles.”

Her mind empty of any good response to give to that statement, Chatana said nothing. She still didn’t know enough about how modern human society worked to give a proper opinion on that matter, nor did she know enough people outside of the palace yet to know what the average person was like. She might know what those living in the palace were like, but they were only a small percentage of everyone alive today, in a world that seemed so much bigger and yet so much smaller than in the days of the Maruvians. They weren’t enough to have an overall idea of people in general, as far as Chatana was concerned. 

“So… on a different subject, what’s your answer?” Esteban asked. 

“My answer?” Chatana echoed.

“To my invitation from this morning,” he clarified. “You told me you would answer after trying these _tamales_...”

Thrown for a loop like she had been slapped, Chatana looked down at the tray between them, then at the plate and fork on her lap. In the midst of the conversation, she had completely forgotten about them.

But she hadn’t forgotten about the promise she had made, even before she had been reminded. 

It wasn’t an easy answer to give, she had to admit it. After years on her own, with only Pili as true company, to suddenly be a part of that kind of bigger group was yet another thing that felt odd at best. True, at least she wouldn’t be endangering her life, like she had when she had accepted Ash’s alliance, but it was difficult to dispel a lifetime of trusting no one but herself, of actually letting people in.

Yet, she couldn’t help a warm flutter in her chest as she recalled the hopeful look in Esteban’s face when he had invited her, an exact copy of the one he was giving her own.

She still didn’t know what he saw in her, but he had seen something. She had seen how he looked at her even in their ways with Ash, had noticed the small bits of assistance and heard the subtle hints of advice he had tried to give her when Ash was sufficiently distracted. Back then, she had either pretended she hadn’t noticed or given him isolated words that were meant to dismiss him as much as to thank him, but she had been touched all the same. 

She had even, if she was bold enough as to say so, liked it, and as subtly as she could, tried to find ways to spend time with him. 

_I guess if I accept I won’t need to do it subtly._ She thought.

That, and the idea did have genuine appeal in and of itself. Being alone was safer, but she had known from her youth that being with people she liked and trusted was pleasant. And despite what she knew some in the kingdom said even now, Esteban fit both requirements for her. 

_There’s only one thing to say then._ She told herself. 

Taking a deep breath, Chatana reached forward and took Esteban’s hand in both of hers.

“Yes, Esteban. I accept your invite for the Navidad celebration.”

_Despite her heart-to-heart with her friend and ally, the actual celebration still carried a sliver of tension for her. It was still a new experience, with people she didn’t know very well yet, and for some of them it hadn’t been that long since she had been an enemy of the crown._

_Nevertheless, the support and warmth she received from him and most others was enough that, when the Navidad celebration ended, she found the experience had been worth it._

_As the following years came, the Winged Sorceress and the Magical Ex-Chancellor gave more of their respective hearts to each other than they every thought they would, and their life was slowly filled with more of the ideals that some said were meant for Navidad, but which they both thought were just as important throughout the rest of the year._

_And for all the time that they shared, they did their best to make such feelings the most important part of their lives._


End file.
